Innocence Abroad: EC's First School Dance

Yes, my daughter, EC, is just 4. But, she attends a primary school, and they had a "Family Christmas Disco" on Tuesday night. Knowing how much EC loves to dance, I thought she should attend. While resisting my urge to put her in some bellbottoms and platform shoes for the "disco," I dressed her in a pretty velvet dress and took her to the school gym. There was a Daddy DJ mixing unedited versions of hip hop songs, a crafting area, snack bar, parent full-service bar (!) and a face-painting station.
EC hit the dance floor first with some of her little friends from her class. They ran around holding hands and having fun! Then, they released some balloons on the dance floor, and the kids went nuts, fighting over the balloons and hitting each other with them. One kid realized how fun it was to start popping the balloons, which sent the crowd into a frenzy again. EC was very concerned about the balloon popping, so she ran around picking up the popped balloons, "so no one will trip over them."
I decided to take her to the snack bar, where I bought her a biscuit (cookie,) avoiding the mince pies because they weird me out. With cookie in hand, she wanted to get her face painted, so we got in line for that. A mum volunteer painted a holly leaf on EC's face. Then, she hit the craft table, where she started making a paper chain. I was then informed that I had to hide the balloon EC was holding because there was a balloon-phobic girl at the craft table. (This was seriously true.) This girl was giving me a look as if I was holding a bloody machete in my hand. So, I hid the balloon behind my back, but the balloon-phobic girl decided it would be safer if she went and hid behind a portable bulletin board instead. Note to parents of balloon-phobic children: maybe you should stay home from dances in the future or at least let the school know not to have balloons at the dances you attend.
After the crafting, EC hit the dance floor one more time. This time, she danced with all her 5th grader friends. (They call that year 6 here.) She knows all these girls because she sits with them at lunch. I guess they've adopted her as their class pet. They were all picking her up and twirling her around. She had a great time getting all the attention of "the older girls."
EC's first school dance experience was positive for her! I couldn't handle being in there without my inner teacher coming out. I wanted to tell the boys to stop running and shoving, and I wanted to investigate what the kids were doing sneaking up on the stage behind the curtain. I had to remind myself that I was only there as a parent, and other children's behavior is not my concern.
Here are some pictures of EC. I didn't get many good ones from the actual dance, as it was dark!